Leicester City: Leicester’s Ballon d’Or superstars
By Jake Cursley
Leicester City stars Jamie Vardy and Riyad Mahrez have both been nominated for the worlds most prestigious individual footballing award, the Ballon d’Or.
Leicester City’s Jamie Vardy and Riyad Mahrez are among the 30 names on the Ballon d’Or shortlist.
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The superstar foxes find themselves amongst the likes of Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo,Antoine Griezmann, Luis Suarez etc.
Jamie Vardy is also the first English player to feature on the shortlist since Wayne Rooney found his saw appear on the list in 2012.
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Despite outscoring Jamie Vardy, Harry Kane finds himself missing out on a chance to win the award, most likely due to the fact that he also missed out on the Premier League title, unlike Vardy.
This is important to note as the award takes into account the trophies won by the individual, despite the Ballon d’Or not being a team award.
Despite Wayne Rooney appearing on the shortlist, it has been over 10 years since an Englishman last made it into the top 3.
In 2005 both Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard both made the cut of the top 3 however missed out on the award to Ronaldinho. The last Englishman to win the award was Michael Owen in 2001.
It’s highly unlikely that either Mahrez or Vardy will win the award with Cristiano Ronaldo winning both the Euro 2016 and Champions League in the past year.
Despite being the two main men in Leicester City’s title win, the trophy wasn’t the only standout reason for their inclusion.
Undershadowed by the title win, many forget that Jamie Vardy went on a miraculous run of form which saw him beat Ruud van Nistelrooy’s record for consecutive goals in the Premier League against none other than Manchester United themselves.
PFA Player of The Year Riyad Mahrez also had an incredible individual season, contributing to 28 goals from the wing, scoring 11 of them.
Surprisingly however, the third man of the incredible trio last season has not made the 30 man shortlist.
Chelsea’s N’Golo Kante, who moved from Leicester to Chelsea in the summer has missed out despite potentially being the foxes most important player during the title win.
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However unlikely that is for Jamie Vardy and Riyad Mahrez to make the top 3, with either Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo winning the award every year for the past 9 years, we should not undermine their achievements and what they have done for Leicester City.